Asking friends and family for money can be as
precarious as learning to ride a bike. But several Johns
Hopkins University students gladly peddled for a chance to
pedal across America this summer in support of a worthy
cause.

Eighteen Hopkins students will spend June and July
perched atop 36 skinny bicycle tires, traveling a 4,000-mile
route between the Homewood campus and San Francisco. Known
as the Hopkins 4K for Cancer, the journey aims to
raise both money for cancer research and awareness for the
disease's prevention. The journey begins shortly after 9
a.m. on Sunday, June 2, when supporters will attend a bon
voyage party before the students leave the university's
Homewood campus, 3400 N. Charles St. in Baltimore. From
Homewood, the students will ride to the Inner Harbor to dip
their bikes' back tires in the water. When they reach San
Francisco, the front tires will be dipped in the bay.

The ticket to ride is $2,500, which each of the 24
riders -- six of whom are students at four other
universities -- raised by soliciting donations. The money
will be used to sustain the students throughout the trip,
but will primarily be put toward their goal of giving
$50,000 to the American Cancer Society at the end of the
road.

Businesses have put the group closer to their goal by
paying to have their logos on the riders' jerseys. The Cliff
Bar company has donated 200 of its energy bars. The Mount
Washington Bike Shop in Baltimore donated a bike helmet for
each participant. Le Monde gave Hopkins 4K a deep discount
on a new road bike for each rider, and Lutherville Bike Shop
in Baltimore County assembled the bikes free of charge.
WOCT-FM 104.3, a Baltimore classic rock station, has asked
the riders to call in during some morning shows this summer.
The students are hoping to borrow a van that will be used as
a pace car and to carry their gear.

Besides educating people in towns along the way and
paying tribute to loved ones lost to cancer, the Hopkins 4K
for Cancer is also offering the students a chance to see
their country from over their handlebars rather than through
an airplane window.

"It's a chance to be a tourist in my own country," says
junior Jen Parker, of Newburyport,
Conn., one of the group's five trip leaders. "And everybody
knows somebody who has been affected by cancer."

That nearly universal cancer connection was what led
sophomore Ryan Hanley of Hickory, N.C., to choose the
American Cancer Society as the beneficiary of the
cross-country bike trip he had always wanted to take and was
finally going to embark upon this summer. He started
spreading the word about the trip after arriving on campus
last fall.

"Cancer has come really close to me, affecting my
family," Hanley says. "There's not another charity that even
crossed my mind. I really wanted to do something."

To gear up for the trip, Hopkins 4K for Cancer riders
have been hitting the road, slowly increasing their distance
and stamina. Most of the riders admit that the trip is going
to be harder than they thought. Freshman Travis Snow of New
Hartford, Conn., says he had no idea how he was going to get
in shape or raise the entry fee. But he sent letters to
family and friends and started working out.

"I now go to the gym and/or ride my new bike nearly
every day for more than an hour," Snow says. "In the past
three months, I've raised more than $3,100 and dropped more
than 25 pounds. Preparing for the trip so far has taught me
an important lesson: Big accomplishments are only a bunch of
little steps done with persistence and focus. I know keeping
this in mind will help me make it across the country."

"This trip will be an adventure in every sense of the
word," says Adam Ruben, a first-year graduate student in
biology from Wilmington, Del. "I chose to go on this trip in
part because I want to tell my grandchildren that I biked
across America, not that I spent another summer doing lab
work."

To arrange an interview with the Hopkins 4K for
Cancer riders before they leave on June 2 or throughout
the summer, contact Amy Cowles at 410-516-7160. More
information, including a list of scheduled stops and ways to
contribute, is available online at
www.hopkins4k.org.

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